cells Editorial mTOR Signaling in Metabolism and Cancer Shile Huang 1,2 1 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport, LA 71130-3932, USA;
[email protected]; Tel.: +1-318-675-7759 2 Feist-Weiller Cancer Center, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport, LA 71130-3932, USA Received: 10 October 2020; Accepted: 13 October 2020; Published: 13 October 2020 Abstract: The mechanistic/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), a serine/threonine kinase, is a central regulator for human physiological activity. Deregulated mTOR signaling is implicated in a variety of disorders, such as cancer, obesity, diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases. The papers published in this special issue summarize the current understanding of the mTOR pathway and its role in the regulation of tissue regeneration, regulatory T cell differentiation and function, and different types of cancer including hematologic malignancies, skin, prostate, breast, and head and neck cancer. The findings highlight that targeting the mTOR pathway is a promising strategy to fight against certain human diseases. Keywords: mTOR; PI3K; Akt; tissue regeneration; regulatory T cells; tumor; photodynamic therapy The mechanistic/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), a serine/threonine kinase, integrates environmental cues such as hormones, growth factors, nutrients, oxygen, and energy, regulating cell growth, proliferation, survival, motility and differentiation as well as metabolism (reviewed in [1,2]). Evidence has demonstrated that deregulated mTOR signaling is implicated in a variety of disorders, such as cancer, obesity, diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases (reviewed in [1,2]). Current knowledge indicates that mTOR functions at least as two distinct complexes (mTORC1 and mTORC2) in mammalian cells.